nwyles

My wife is considering smashing my computer at home. I have become an Egullet addict. I can't stop ! Help me before I post again. Seriously , I told my wife that Tony Bourdain had responded to my post and she said that she wanted to attend. She was also the one who read Kitchen Conf. first. She kept telling me how much I was going to like it I nearly tore the book in half just so I could start reading it ! I am the kind of reader that once I start, I will not put the book down until I finish it. ( I also read the last page first ) Sorry , I digress , what are the rules of food club ? Never talk about food club ? I still have not got the decoder ring yet !

I would rather starve ( and I went without food for a whole day on a fishing trip because of it ) FRENCH'S YELLOW MUSTARD Can't stand it. Can't smell it. Driving on a vacation in Europe. Saw fields of yellow flowers. What's that ? I ask. Mustard was the response. What a waste was mine !

Any speculation as to who might be buying it ?

Ling , I have had "All-Clad" and it has been fine. I have a few new pans that I got from Puddifoot's a couple of years ago. Demeyer is the name I think. I know that only Puddifoot's offered them. They are fantastic. I can't recall how $$ they were as I bought them for the restaurant on a big supply order. We had a handle break off of the All Clad - it was used lots but I have not had a handle brak off of the Demeyer - they actually have stay cool handles which is great. It might be a few $$ more but you will have them for life.

Check out Cityfood.com for a picture of the modular building of " Go - Fish" being lowered into place. It is not long now. I hear "Lift" is launching Sept 20th. Has anyone been by there this last weekend ?

I sent off a PM to Tony Bourdain and this is what I got back. Don't know....It's going to be an absolutely hellacious day for me and the grill bitch (who'll be assisting me). Start at 6:30 AM and events or interviews every hour until late. There's already a dinner scheduled at the Opus--followed by an event at Bar None. Can you make the Bar None thing? Certainly if I'm not completely shredded, I may be up for a late meet with the local gurus after that. Tony They work you like a rented mule. Holy crap , that is a long day of meet and greet ! I think the Opus is a cocktail / handshaker. Same with Bar None ( right next door ) A few of us will be there. Some have to work. Friday night and all. We will be one block down the street. Are you staying at the Opus ? There is a fair amount of interest in all events so it will be good all round. Stay in touch and hopefully we can get together. Cheers Neil I will post any new PM's as they come in. With a little luck , he will be in attendence at some point in our evening. Neil

Feenie's ? Glowbal ? Bis Moreno ? Can anyone add ?

Amarcord is a nice place. Enjoyable, good food and not so $$$. Have the gnocchi. Manlio does a good job. Neil P.S. Do not engage Manlio in a comparison of his cuisine and others in town. He is the only original Italian according to him. All others are imposters !

Too bad - I would go in there and the place was spotless ! With the sexy smell of bleach. So good !

All I need is the smell of the onions that have been cooking for weeks on a buger from the place that has been there 25 years! That and a bag of the mini donuts ( Ok , maybe two bags ). Then some fresh squeezed lemonade. A bite of my kids cotton candy( Ok , maybe two bites ). Then a bite of my other kids caramel apple. A piece of fudge from the Food building , Oh...... I feel sick. To much junk food........ That does me in for a year.

I can't help myself with such an easy setup. How about downtown ? Parkside , Fortes , Raincity Grill , " C ", Hapa Izakaya. Vancouver has such a vast amount of great restaurants you could not go wrong in any area of town ! P.S. Yaletown is still the best !

We crust it with cayenne pepper and coconut mixed with panko flake. Use an egg wash then bread with coconot mixture. Deep fry and serve with spicy sauce. I use Thai green curry mixed with mayo.

You are correct. Yaletown is still the only place to hang out. See you soon.

I had a Moscow Mule made with Stewart's Ginger Beer the other night. Cool and refreshing although I think I would only have 1. I don't think that it is a drink that you might have many of. Good nonetheless

We as restauranteurs have to use some system to decide on wine prices. A one time or two time markup is a good rule of thumb. The higher the price, the lower the markup can be because the profit $$ are good ( $150.00 sale price on a $100.00 bottle of wine puts $50.00 in the coffers. You have to sell lots of caesar salads to make $50.00 ) The wine multiplication system is just a general rule of thumb to help you guage where your sell price should be. Availability, Rarity, allocation from wine maker, non availability to general public - these are also factors. As we only have food and beverage to sell, what would you have us use ? A sliding scale based on projected volume that day ? Monday is not very busy so reprint menu and wine list so cost of rent is absorbed in that ? That would give you a $40.00 caesar salad - $3.00 on Friday but then we would be bitching about the cost of printing. This is the cost of running a business. People who sell things for less than of or close to cost, only run their business into the ground. People want to eat in restaurants in nice areas - theatre districts, upscale areas etc. That comes with a price and that price is absorbed in one of the two things we sell - food and booze. It has to be a balance in order for the business to succeed. I hope you are starting to see that.

Amen to that ! End of story.

What sort of fantastic world would that be !

In B.C. , when I said no questions asked, I meant it. Customer rejects , wine steward rejects, busboy rejects , no problem. Private Auctions are a different story but not very common in our market as the Government always wants to have it's hand in it !

Lots of different restaurants , lots of different systems. You are right in pointing out it takes lots of cooks to produce dinner etc. One bartender can pour for the whole restaurant where it take 5 to 6 cooks. The labor component is the big difference in the profitabily of food vs beverage. The basic cost of the product is roughly the same , the big difference is the number of people it takes to get it to the table.

I will say this, even though we have a government agency for liquor distribution in British Columbia , if ever you had a bad bottle of wine, they would just take it back - no questions asked and replace it. It has openned the door to a couple of scammers but all in all, everybody is fairly honest about it.

We don't buy for the same price the retailer buys for , we buy at retail prices ! The restaurant pays $18.00 ( See above example ) for the wine. The retailer ( in our case , the Government ) keeps what they pay to themselves. As they are the ONLY game in town , we have to all buy from them. So , why do I have to markup .............. The table and chairs you are sitting at cost $1000. I would like a return on my investment. The flatware and glassware you are eating with at that table cost $400. Again, I desire a return on my investment. The staff need to be paid, the rent, insurance, the cost of the product etc. Do I need to go on as to why there needs to be a markup on wine....... At the end of the day, restaurant owners make their money in nickels and dimes off of each guest. The only way to make dollars is to serve enough guests.....

Wow , you have no idea ! In Canada , what you ( in the DC area ) would see on the shelves in Safeway for $6.00 , sells in our liquor stores for $17.00 or $18.00. I need to double that $34.00 to put on my list. Imagine the sticker shock some tourists get when they see that ! I think our liquor has at least seven layers of tax on it before it hits the table. Sometimes, it is even tax on tax. Stop crying about the price of the wine and just enjoy !

I had the Pate Maison when I was there. Nice big portion. Could not finish it as I had dinner coming as well. I sat in the little booth that looks right into the kitchen / dishpit where I could see the floor as well. It does not bother me but I think it could have used a good " dusting " as well. Neil

I had dinner at Le Crocodile last night and they are lightyears ahead of the others. And if you choose wisely, the $$ are pretty comparable as well. Michel Jacob is an outstanding host and his staff are always professional. I have never had an item there that was not excellent. I must say , it was tough to finish the second order of frog's legs - This was a few years ago when my wife was pregnant, Michel sent out two orders of frog's legs - I ate mine and then had to eat her's as to not offend the Chef. Neil

I used to a do passionfruit cheesecake. It was fantastic.